Class, Workshop + Event Instructors
The Rope Collective provides a variety of healing arts and kink educational and interactive public and private events inside our studio.
Meet the instructors and view the events calendar to find an upcoming class, workshop, or event to join. Check out our studio practitioners to book a private healing, rope, or kink session.
Toni brianna guida wendel
(she/her)
Toni is a rope artist, educator, community event organizer and founder of The Rope Collective. She began her rope journey in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014 as someone being tied by others. Years into being an active member of rope communities, she picked up rope to self tie and developed a specialty for self suspension performance. When she returned to San Diego in 2018 she began tying others and now specializes in both partnered and self suspension performance. She currently identifies as a sWitch who falls in love with rope deeper and in new ways everyday.
In addition to teaching classes with The Rope Collective, you may book with Toni for private group classes, private 1:1 rope lessons, rope experiences (being tied or suspended) or events worldwide.
Mistress Mary8Jane
(she/they)
Mary Jane is a highly experienced switchy Lebanese princess who has an intense love for rope and all things BDSM. She is an advocate for safe, sane, and consensual kink. She is passionate about education in the kink space, performing and modeling. When she isn’t teaching you can find her gracing the stage in a kinky scene or go go dancing as a Sister of Mercy for Club Obsession. With an open heart and open mind she hopes to connect with others and safely guide them to towards accomplishing their deepest desires.
Sydney Aldana
(she/they)
Sydney is a dynamic figure in the realm of personal empowerment, blending their expertise as a sex and relationship coach with their passion for dance and fire performance. With a lifelong dedication to movement and somatic practices, Sydney's journey as an instructor began in 2020 when they started leading workshops across San Diego and at music festivals.
Drawing from their extensive background in dance and somatic practices, Sydney seamlessly integrates breath work, mindful movement, and comprehensive sex education into her workshops. Their approach is deeply rooted in fostering self-awareness and empowerment, encouraging participants to explore their bodies and relationships with newfound confidence.
Sydney's workshops are more than just educational experiences; they are transformative journeys designed to ignite a sense of liberation and self-discovery. Whether guiding individuals through sensual movement or facilitating open conversations about intimacy, Sydney's compassionate guidance creates a safe space for exploration and growth.
As both a teacher and a performer, Sydney brings a unique blend of expertise, creativity, and infectious energy to her work, leaving participants inspired and empowered to embrace their fullest selves.
Switchy Witch
(she/her)
Jayna, also known as Switchy Witch, is a versatile artist and performer specializing in pole dancing and rope bondage. With a lifelong dedication to dance, she began her pole dancing journey in 2018 and expanded her repertoire to include the captivating art of shibari in 2021. Since then she has been both bottoming and topping, as you may have guessed, she is a switch.
Today, she mesmerizes audiences with her performances and imparts her expertise through workshops held in prominent cities such as Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Francisco. Jayna is also the visionary behind The Rope Coven, a women lead community of witches dedicated to exploring the intricacies of rope bondage.
At The Rope Collective, Jayna offers various workshops, private rope lessons & sessions.
madame v
(she/her)
Savannah Roshan (Madame V.) is a lifelong entertainer and San Diego nightlife event producer. From a young age, she participated in classical theater, dance, and opera programs in Chicago before making the move out to California to continue her studies in 2014. In 2018 she received an Irene Ryan scholarship nomination for her role as Shelly in Sam Shepard’s Buried Child. Upon completing her studies, she participated in many local films such as The Yawn (2017), The Dinner (2017), Continuance (2021), Pulp Friction (2022), and Hands (music video 2022). After going to school for film, theater, music, and linguistics at San Diego Mesa College and UCSD, she founded the gothic nightlife event “Club Obsession” which showcases the best underground performance and visual artistry the San Diego and LA county areas have to offer. Each Obsession event takes inspiration from popular films like Blade: the Blade Runner franchise, Hellraiser, and Suspiria. From DJing, Gogo dancing, BDSM sessions, and performance art, Vannah can be found working in concerts, nightclubs, and festivals including "Modern.wav," the San Diego Pride Festival, Rich’s San Diego, Connect San Diego, EQ, and the San Diego Rope Collective.
Robbie
(he/they)
Robert Edward Taylor, Jr. (Robbie) is a Placerville, California native who has had a passion for the arts his whole life. Having access to the family computer, he learned how to dance through YouTube videos and later joined the dance department at his high school in El Dorado, California. After graduation, Robbie attended Folsom Lake College where he explored dancing ballet, modern, musical theater, and dance composition and production. While attending Folsom Lake College, he joined the MOSAIC Dance Company of Folsom Lake College in 2016 where the company's focus was on local outreach programs, performing at local events and venues, and touring nationally. In 2017, Robbie performed in the annual Sacramento Ballet Nutcracker under the direction and mentorship of artistic director Ron Cunningham. While studying at the Sacramento Ballet, his training focus was on character pantomime and performance, Alexander technique, and classical ballet. He also performed with the company in other works, including Carmina Burana and Giselle. Later, Robbie joined Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre (SCDT) in 2018 under the direction of Jacob Gutierrez-Montoya. He found a home in SCDT, where the company brings the work of local non-profits to the stage through visual and performing arts. In 2019, Robbie finished his associate degrees in Dance Studies and Sociology from Folsom Lake College. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he moved from Sacramento to Orange County for a year to study at CSU Fullerton and later transferred to San Diego State University, where he obtained his BFA in Dance in the Fall of 2022. Robbie continued his research in the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Science (MALAS) program at SDSU, where he has continued his research interests in Dance, Psychology, & LGBT+ Studies. It was within the MALAS program that he created the With;OUT Dance Project and curated the concert Voices in collaboration with his cast. Since then, Robbie has published his research, continued the project beyond SDSU, and dedicated his time to creating a movement space for artists to collaborate on multidisciplinary projects. They are excited to collaborate on future performances, workshops, and events with the Rope Collective.
Leo Fuego
(he/him)
Mario Miguel Emilio Jaimes (Leo Fuego) is a freelance contemporary dance maker born and raised in San Diego, California. He discovered his passion for dance as a sophomore in high school and decided to continue his training by joining the school's competitive dance team. This inspired him to further his dance education at San Diego State University, where he received a BFA in Dance while minoring in Management. While in college, he choreographed numerous works, performed for the University’s Dance Company, and was President of the University’s Dance Club. In his third year, Mario participated in San Diego Trolley Dances, which soon granted him a spot in San Diego Dance Theater's company. After seven years, Mario transitioned into freelance dancemaking and co-produced Voices of the With;OUT Dance Project in partnership with Robbie Taylor. Currently, he is collaborating with the collective of WDP and the Rope Collective.
Yves Zephyr
(she/they)
Justine Yvonne Suhr (Yves Zephyr) is a multidisciplinary artist and performer based out of San Diego, CA. Throughout her life, Justine has found herself immersed in the realm of creative self-expression and the many forms it takes on. Coming from a family of musicians, writers, painters, and creative spirits, it was only natural that she followed suit in developing her creative talents. In her early years, she explored the world of theater and took on several leading roles in school productions. Later, she turned her focus to playing Clarinet for her middle and high school marching bands, as well as concert symphonic bands. However, once in high school, she also joined her school’s marching band color guard, performing at numerous competitions throughout Southern California. Outside of school, she was selected to perform with the Gold Drum and Bugle Corps Color Guard and Alchemy Independent Winter Guard, touring cross country and competing on a national level within the DCI, WGI, and WGASC competition circuits. To improve her movement skills for being on a competitive color guard team, she took several dance classes at community college. But these extra-curricular dance classes quickly proved to be where she felt most at home when it came to her creative expression. At age 19, she chose dance as her major, marking the beginning of her formal dance training. She then committed four years at Grossmont College to honing her dance skills in the Modern, Ballet, Hip Hop, and jazz genres. As well as performing and choreographing for several dance productions at her college. Eventually, she graduated with her AA Degree in Dance, and from there, she was accepted into the SDSU Dance Program, where she studied dance making, contemporary modern, somatic movement practice, human anatomy, filmmaking, and pedagogy for three years. While at SDSU, she performed in several dance productions, produced several dance films, and choreographed an original dance for her Senior Capstone. In her spare time, she also took on the responsibility of working at the San Diego Dance Theater (SDDT) as a Work Study and Instructor’s Assistant, where she had access to the dance classes the studio provided and performed in several productions for the SDDT School. Currently, at age 26, Justine is an active dance artist within the San Diego artists community and works closely with the local goth nightclub/cabaret and artist collective, "Club Obsession." Within this collective, she is a member of The Sisters of Mercy Gogo Troupe, a cabaret performer, and acts as the nightclub’s performer liaison. As an artist, Justine’s creative work focuses on the human condition. What does it mean to exist as an abstract being in a world that craves formality and predictability? Accepting one’s spiritual identity. Understanding collective spirituality. The occult. The mysteries of love, life, and death. And the intelligent design of reality. Through creative expression, she forges pathways away from the confinement of definition and into the realm of ineffable description. The goal of her artistic works is rarely that of explaining a narrative but rather seeks to invoke empathy and challenge one’s perception of truth and reality. She is excited to bring this research and pop-up workshops to the With;OUT Dance Project and Rope Collective.
Andrea
(she/her)
Certified Embodiment Coach & Yoga Instructor
Andrea is the Founder of Sensual Somatic Dance - a mixture of somatic exercises, breathwork, self massage, movement: yoga, pilates, and a variety of styles of dance.
She specializes in helping her students feel connected, centered, grounded, and safe; to feel joy and pleasure; to play; to process emotions; & to learn tools for self expression.
Her practice is centered around discovering sensuality and self-love, connecting with our primal selves and our birthright to feeling divine, and creating a safe place to explore our shadow and unlock our power.
Andrea teaches how to cultivate healthy habits, break toxic patterns and beliefs, & learn new practices in order to live a more joyful, passionate, pleasurable, & peaceful daily life.
Her goal is to create a community that supports us in our journeys, so that we may elevate our experiences and greet our feelings with compassion.
Andrea offers classes, workshops, & private sessions.
Contact her to book!
Contact sensualsomaticdancecoven@gmail.com
Calba
(they/them)
Rope Practitioner + Book Artist
Co-facilitator for the Partial Suspension series. With a background in community-centered collective practices, Calba’s approach to rope and bookbinding is rooted in intimacy, storytelling, and connection. As with binding books, and binding bodies, they focus on the ways we can liberate legacies of intergenerational trauma through embodied restraint and sharing story. Calba centers inclusivity in their rope and values the opportunity to learn and navigate new approaches and strategies to create avenues of access to everyone.
In addition to their rope and bookbinding practice, Calba has years of experience creating spaces exclusively for queer and trans Black, Indigenous and people of color to access rope, kink, and BDSM. They are trained in restorative justice practices, de-escalation, and trauma-informed care and bring these skills to any and all pleasure based community organizing.
They are available for private group classes or one-on-ones and are always down for supporting collective and grassroots organizing.